April Fools Day SPD Style
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: I know, repost, but I rewrote part of it to make it multichapter fic. It's April Fool's Day at SPD Earth Station, and an idiot pulls a practial joke on Kat. KatxCruger
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own PRSPD

A/n: Kathleen, Kat's daughter, is from theserese starting with "Let Me Know You"

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**April Fools Day SPD Style**

April Fools day at SPD Earth Station pranks were typically exchanged between the cadets, but Cruger and Kat were typically immune to the fun and games. Until this year, sure Cruger would remain immune, no cadet in the galaxy was that stupid, but Kat would seem fair game!

Two male and one female cadet, Brandon Richards, Z Delgado, and Jack Landers were planning the biggest prank in years, they weren't sure of the target but they figured the old 'bucket of water over the head gag' was the best choice. Then Brandon pointed out the fact that there was a person that hand never had an April Fools prank pulled on them, Kat.

"Listen, you've go to be crazy, D.C. would have our heads if we soaked Kat!" Z said

"She's got a point" Jack said "I don't have a death wish at this point"

"Cowards," Brandon taunted

"Now, Brandon, don't go there!" Jack said in anger

"I have to agree with Jack, if you want to go through with your little plan, you're going to have to do it without us!" Z said flatly.

"Fine, I will," Brandon said in a decided tone that said they couldn't talk him out of it.

Brandon began to wonder how he would do it, and then he got an idea and somehow managed to get Kat to a certain spot in the front entryway area where she would be easy to hit from the open loft above. He had a medium bucket of cold water and waited for Kat to get into position, and he got ready.

Kat stepped out into the open, unaware she was walking into a trap until SPLASH, she was soaked to the skin! She gasped as the water was cold, not ice cold, but cold enough to shock anyone that wasn't expecting it, and probably even one that was expecting it.

Cruger was approaching just as she got soaked, he saw who did it, and so did Sky, who was close enough to grab Brandon

"Cadet Richards, that was uncalled for… we don't mind simple jokes played on the cadets but when you go for the staff I have to tell you that will not be tolerated… it is up to the commander what punishment you get"

Kat was over the shock of that in a few moments and one of the c-level cadets on guard duty had left his post to get a towel for her, and was thanked kindly for his thoughtfulness. Kat went to her quarters to change into dry cloths and Cruger went upstairs to deal with the ranger that had pulled the prank to begin with.

"Cadet Richards, I guess I should have expected this from you, and I have to admit, while you had to be clever to manage to pull a stunt like that on Kat your actions today were completely unacceptable. As punishment you now have night watch for two weeks, and during that time you will lose access to your morphing powers."

Brandon reluctantly handed over his morpher and went to his room to sulk, he couldn't believe he had been stupid enough to get caught; then again, Jack or Z might've typed off Cruger as they thought it wasn't right for him to try that.

After Brandon left, Kat walked into the command center.

"Well, Kat, I take it there was no harm done?" Cruger asked

"None, physically anyway" she said as she walked up to his side

Cruger chuckled at her reaction, that would be rather humiliating for anyone, and Kat was no exemption.

"I can't believe Brandon actually managed to trick me" Kat sighed

"I can, I believe he could trick almost anyone who wasn't familiar with his tricks… that one got past you, but it wouldn't get past, say your daughter, who has worked with him for years" he said "it all boils down to the fact that you don't know him very well"

"I guess you're right, Doggie" she sighed

"This isn't like you Kat," Cruger took a serious look at his old friend, and had to admit she wasn't acting like herself "are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I just can't figure out how I managed to get fooled so easily"

"Don't dwell on it, this could have happened to anyone" they went into a more private room to talk.

Kat smiled as she looked at her friend, she couldn't believe how long it had been since he saved her life.

"It doesn't seem like it's been almost twenty-three years since we met, does it?" she asked.

"Not really, then again, to us that amount of time doesn't seem that long"

"True, but can you imagine the ranger's reaction to that?"

"I don't even want to think about that" Cruger dismissed quickly

"Me either" Kat agreed "they would definitely make a big deal out of it"

Cruger knew that Kat never really liked for anyone to make a big deal over her, that was why the cadets weren't told when her birthday was as they would put together a party for her, and that wasn't what she truly wanted.

Cruger watched as Kat leaned against the wall as she thought back on what they had seen together, and she couldn't believe what all they had been through together and what they had seen.

"I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have been friends this long" she said

"What makes you say that?" Cruger asked

"Think about it, you hear all the time from the cadets how they get into arguments with their friends and suddenly they aren't talking anymore…" Kat sighed and moved from against the wall to stand beside Cruger as they looked out the window.

"I guess we are" Cruger agreed "but I think what's kept us together so long is that we do try and work things out."

"Most of the time" Kat said "but we have fought a couple of times"

"Yes, but it never ruined our friendship" Cruger said and put his arm around her shoulders. Kat didn't know what to think, she just turned so she could rest her head against his shoulder and felt his arm tighten around her a bit and his hand moved from her shoulder to her waist. She was a bit surprised to feel his hand move to her waist; she didn't let him know how much that surprised her, but he realized it anyway.

They didn't know that Jack had found a good vantage point to watch and hear everything that happened between the commander and Kat.

"Oh, Snap, I would've never seen this coming" he whispered in excitement as he saw the live security feed from that particular room in the base.

Sky walked up and saw what Jack watching

"You do know this could get you in serious trouble" Sky scolded

"I know, but look at them!" Jack replied

"Whoa, now that I wouldn't have believed if I didn't see it with my own eyes"

"Me either" Jack said

Kat, by this time, had relaxed and become comfortable with the way Cruger held her near himself, and Jack and Sky could tell that there was more than a friendship between there commander and Kat.

Kat was silent as she savored the moments she got to be close to him, she didn't know if or when she'd get another chance to be that close to him. She didn't think that there would be another day that she would get the chance to be that close to the commander and she wanted to be able to remember how it felt to be held by him.

Brandon somehow managed to break into Kat's living quarters that evening while she was spending some time with Cruger and it took him only a few moments to discover her jewelry box and go through it and steal her wedding set, blue sapphire and opal tennis bracelet that the commander had given her, and her favorite watch that had been an anniversary present from her late husband.

He left just before Kat went to her quarters to get her watch as she had forgotten to put it back on when she changed cloths and noticed her jewelry box was standing wide open, the contents strewn haphazardly all over the table.

"Oh, no" she whispered

_To be Continued…

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Pls. note that all flames will be redirected at the nearest hurricane.


	2. Chapter 2

Cruger growled in frustration as he watched Kat go through her jewelry box to find what was missing. She used a pair of rubber gloves so she didn't disturb any evidence that might be on the items.

"Can you tell what's missing?" Cruger asked gently.

"My wedding set, watch, and the bracelet you gave me for Valentines day this year. That's all I can find missing so far." She sighed and finished her search "that's it, that is all I'm missing."

"Okay" Cruger said with contained anger, he knew that those were valuable pieces to Kat and hated the fact that it was all too likely that she would never see them again. They didn't know that Brandon had used the chaos surrounding the disappearance of Kat's belongings to steal the commander's watch that Kat had given him for Christmas the year before. He also managed to get Z's necklace and an expensive pair of earrings from Sydney.

Not many people would have suspected that Brandon was the one stealing things from his fellow cadets along with the employees of SPD and the base commander, no one except Kathleen.

She had her suspicions about him from the start and they were being reinforced by his behavior that day. She kept a close eye on him as she didn't want to let him get away with whatever he was trying to hide.

'He's up to something' Kathleen thought 'and I'm going to find out what.'

She didn't know at the time that he had stolen from her as well. She knew that she was missing a ring and a necklace that she had gotten from an old friend, but she thought she had just misplaced those, she had no idea they were stolen.

Her teammate and friend, Alex, had talked her into reporting to the commander that those items were missing and filing a formal report about it, and she did, reluctantly.

The next day Kathleen caught Brandon stuffing a suspicious white, legal sized envelope in his pocket while they were standing in the rec. room.

"Brandon, what is in that envelope?" she demanded

"Nothing that is any of your business" he said, mistake!

"Cadet Richards, empty your pockets!" Kathleen ordered

"Yes ma'am" he said and emptied the contents of his pockets including the envelope.

"Open that envelope, and spread the contents on the table." She ordered and he did obediently and there was all the stolen property.

"Brandon, I don't believe this, I am very disappointed in you" Kathleen scolded angrily and pulled her morpher "Commander" she said into the communicator "I think I've found our thief, sir"

"Okay, I'm on my way" Cruger replied

Brandon considered running for a split second then reached back and punched Kathleen in the face and took off, but ran directly into Kathleen's boyfriend, Sky Tate.

"Cadet Richards, you do know that adds to the charges against you" Sky said angrily as Cruger walked in.

"Cadets, what is the problem here?" he asked

"Cadet Richards thought he could get away with stealing from those around him in the base and when he found he couldn't he punched Cadet Manx in the face and tried and get away using the chaos as a cover.

"Cadet Richards is this true?" Cruger asked

"Basically, yes" Brandon replied

"Then you are under arrest for theft and the assault of a red ranger…" Sky said as he pulled his morpher out and switched it to Judgment mode "Judgment!" it only took a few seconds for the scanner to come up with a guilty verdict "Contain the criminal"

After they confined Brandon, Cruger walked over to see exactly what he had stolen and was surprised to see his own watch among the stolen items.

"I guess it's time for us to return these things to their rightful owners" Sky said as Cruger put his watch on.

"Yes, Sky, it is" Cruger said as he picked up the few items that he knew were Kat's, he'd return them personally.

Kathleen took her ring and necklace and grabbed Z's necklace and Syd's earrings. Sky began to identify other items that they knew where they belonged and set up a special lost and found for the rest of the stuff, which got redistributed to the rightful owners.

Cruger walked into Kat's lab quietly. She was working quite hard that day and he didn't want to disturb her just yet.

Then she looked up to realize he was nearby.

"Is there something you need, Doggie?" she asked

"No, but I found something of yours" he said and gave her the items back.

"Thank you" she said; happy to have her jewelry returned… then put the bracelet on first, then hid her watch under her sleeve so she could just pull it out, look at it and then put it back in place. She then looked at her wedding set and felt the tears building in her eyes… she missed her husband dearly… as Cruger did his wife.

"Kat, I know you've been hurt, but… I guess it's time for us to both move on" Cruger said weakly.

"Your right" she confirmed, wiping at her tears.

Then Cruger realized something, she'd never really mourned her husband's death, she just picked up and moved on… he couldn't remember her crying very much, back then he thought that was just how she handled loss, turn out it was how she avoided dealing with the loss, and he was realizing that as he watched her.

'She may act like she's moving on, but she hasn't let go yet…' he thought 'she still holds tightly to him, even thought she knows he's gone'. It hurt him to realize that fact as he loved her, and hated to see that she was hurting herself, but there was nothing he could do, it was up to her, but she was happy for the time being. He didn't want to disturb that and cause her any more pain. He'd have to deal with the truth another day.

**The End

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